New to me bottom pour furnace

[M4bushy]

I just started casting this winter. I bought the lyman casting kit with the 10lb ladle cast furnace. I was getting rather good results with with this setup.
Last week a made an offer on fleebay for a Lyman mag20 bottom pour furnace. I got it, I tried it out this morning. WOW I will never ladle cast another bullet! I'm sold on bottom pour casting! Having double the lead is really nice especially when casting the 405 gr .475's

[Dale53]

"Back in the day" I bought the biggest bottom pour pot I could find - a Lyman 11# pot. I cast tens of thousands of bullets with that pot but started casting for other people to help the cost of my shooting. I got an RCBS bottom pour pot plus a plain melter from Saeco that holds 20# (to feed the RCBS for continuous casting).

Now that I have gotten older, my desire to cast eight hours a day has "Gone With the Wind", but the RCBS 20# works fine for me. I normally cast a full pot at a time. Sometimes, I will run two pots, but no more full days for me.

I have been a bottom pour man for sixty years...

Dale53

[Doby45]

Damn, Dale started casting when he was born.. ;)

[Dale53]

Doby45;
You may have thought that was a typo - I was born in 1935. Do the math - I was 76, yesterday! I was nearly grown when I started casting (about 14 years old)...

I have been blessed. I am still shooting quite well, thank you and give thanks every day that I still can.

Dale53

[cbrick]

I was 76, yesterday! Dale5

Well, happy birthday Dale, hope you have many, many more.

Hope the cake was good. :D

Rick

[Dale53]

cbrick;
Thanks, Rick!

Actually, the "cake" was a hot fudge sundae!!![smilie=w:

Dale53

[9.3X62AL]

Actually, the "cake" was a hot fudge sundae!!![smilie=w:

OK, THAT is what I'm TALKING ABOUT for a birthday treat! Happy Birthday, Dale.

Ladle casting can produce some very well-made boolits, esp. the long skinny ones. I do it on occasion, from the top of my bottom-pour RCBS furnace. 95% of the time, I bottom-pour. Faster production, but a few more flawed boolits than with the ladle. Ladled boolits (when scaled) are MUCH more weight-consistent than poured boolits of the same design, specifically the long skinny ones.

[M4bushy]

OK, THAT is what I'm TALKING ABOUT for a birthday treat! Happy Birthday, Dale.

Ladle casting can produce some very well-made boolits, esp. the long skinny ones. I do it on occasion, from the top of my bottom-pour RCBS furnace. 95% of the time, I bottom-pour. Faster production, but a few more flawed boolits than with the ladle. Ladled boolits (when scaled) are MUCH more weight-consistent than poured boolits of the same design, specifically the long skinny ones.

Being a complete greenhorn with this casting, I'm having better results with the bottom poured bullets. I seem to get cleaner bullets with the bottom pour than when I ladle poured. I'm only casting handgun bullets so no long skinny ones here ;-)

[Dale53]

Thanks for all of the birthday greetings, folks. I appreciate it.

I don't want to start another thread on Ladle vs bottom pour. I'll just mention that I bottom pour everything, even my BPCR and precision schuetzen bullets.

I can do match quality bullets either way but I much, MUCH prefer bottom pour.

My standard for schuetzen bullets (200+ grs in caliber .32) is plus or minus .2 ( 2 tenths) of a grain. I expect ½ minute accuracy at 200 yards from my Schuetzen bench gun. My black powder cartridge rifles are .40 caliber (422 grs and hold to plus or minus .6 (6 tenths) of a grain. My .45 caliber run well over 500 grs and I hold them +or- .6 tenths of a grain). My BPCR will do 6-8" at 500 yards (ten shot groups with a scope off a bench).

I will admit to having cast several hundred thousand bullets with bottom pour but I do not believe it takes more than about two years to learn to cast bench match quality bullets. On the other hand, I can have a new caster running decent pistol bullets in a day or two. The short fat pistol bullets ARE easier to cast.

Like everyone I knew who cast bullets I started with a Lyman ten pound pot on the kitchen range with a dipper. When I got a bottom pour pot (an 11 lb Lyman) it took a while but I just accepted that there would be a learning curve, sucked it up and learned how.

I think that I was the only one on the firing line who shot BPCR and used multiple cavity moulds. Everyone I knew used single cavity moulds. My attitude was based on very limited time and a four cavity mould did the job (NEI and LBT custom moulds).

Dale53

Dale53